Back in the USA!

So I made it back from The Netherlands! I had a great trip and I was able to see a lot of the country. I hope to post pictures soon, but all I have right now is my work computer and I can't use it to post pictures. I was able to upload this one picture of me in Amsterdam with the canal behind me.



My hotel was in a smaller town called Zoetermeer; it was about a 1.5 hour train ride from Amsterdam. When I first arrived, there were no people around. It felt like I was in a ghost town. Apparently everyone takes their vacations during July and August, and they also have about 5 weeks standard for vacation time. So according to the Dutchman who ran the training, that's why the town was empty. I arrived in the morning, took a nap and then headed into Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is a beautiful and very eclectic town. I felt that the architecture varied greatly from street to street as you will see in some of the pictures. Canals run throughout the city and there appears to be a mass of boats on the canals at all times. I was there on a Sunday, and I was told that the Dutch like to do absolutely nothing but sit in the sun on Sunday. I would definitely say this is the case as every cafe was packed, people were relaxing in the sun on their boats, and others just sat on their front porch soaking in the afternoon heat. My general impression from the whole trip is that the Dutch are very laid back people, which jived well with me. I spent most of my time in Amsterdam walking around taking pictures or relaxing at a cafe enjoying a Dutch beer and taking in the atmosphere of city.

The next day, Monday, my training started, which was good but I won't bore anyone with the details. That night I took the train into another nearby city called Den Haag("The Hauge"). Den Haag is a coastal city where Holland's government is located. I got some good photos of the parliamentary buildings which I will soon share. I had dinner in a popular city square called Plein Square. I took some pictures of that too.



Tuesday, I had more training, and that evening our trainer took the other trainees and I out to dinner. Strangely enough we went to a Japanese Steakhouse, but it was really good. According to the person I sat next to on the plane comming back, Zoetermeer is known for its Asian cuisine. The Dutch don't really have their own foods. They are kinda like the U.S. in that they just borrow from other cultures. The one thing they did want to claim was sandwiches and milk at lunch.

Wednesday was the last day of training and that evening I headed back to Den Haag for dinner. I tried to be adventurous and head to the beach. The only problem was I had to take a tram and I knew that figuring out where the tram goes would be a little tricky. However asked the information desk and the told me which tram to get on. However, they didn't tell me which direction to ride it. I, of course, went the wrong direction. To make a long story short, I never made it to the beach. I went back to Plein Square for dinner which was enjoyable; I don't really like the beach anyways...

Well there's the quick details of my trip. I had a great time and also learned a lot of good information for work. I really liked Holland and the people. I may get return in the future for more training, which would be great, but for now I am happy to be back home in the U.S.